60 
ROOSEVELT’S BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
equipments. Outdoor life has always had a charm for him, and 
to this can be attributed in part his sturdy physique and robust 
health. 
Capable of great endurance, he can distance others in the 
amount and quality of work he is able to perform. In short? 
both in mind and body he is a model of vigorous manhood and 
the “ strenuous life” he is so fond of advocating. 
After leaving college he went abroad, acting upon the 
common impression, not entirely a correct one, that the education 
of a young American cannot be considered complete until it is 
^‘finished off” in some foreign capital. For awhile he studied at 
Dresden, then travelled through Switzerland and elsewhere, and 
distinguished himself as a mountain climber. There was enough 
of difficulty and danger in this pastime to suit his adventurous 
nature ; besides, it afforded him a fine opportunity for exercising 
and testing his powers of endurance. To ascend the Jungfrau 
was no great undertaking, but the far-famed and, one might almost 
say, fatal Matterhorn was a different proposition. To climb this 
mountain was to incur risks of a serious nature; only the boldest 
and most self-reliant athletes would attempt it. 
Mr. Roosevelt’s success in scaling the almost impassable 
Alpine heights was such as to entitle him to membership in the 
Alpine Club of London. No one can become a member of this 
famous club without having performed a feat in mountain climb¬ 
ing that is worthy of commemoration. 
